Kingdom Hearts: Keeper of Sin
by dyyor
Summary: all characters and places are owned by SquareEnix and Disney, except the stuff i came up with XD. placed a few years after KH2, also comes after my first story, slightly abandoned. if confused leave comment. ENJOY! P.S.SPIOLER ALERT
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts: Keeper of Sin

It is said that those who sin are doomed to an eternity of suffering, but what about Nobodies? How can they suffer, is it even possible for those who have no feelings to be in pain? Nobodies are what is left over after a Heartless is born, but how can they move as they do? These questions have always plagued my mind, so now I go out in search of the answers. This will be the record of my investigation.

Hijus Report 1

The World That Never Was, the past headquarters of Organization XIII, the castle is overrun by Heartless trying to get to Kingdom Hearts. A young man wearing a black raincoat was fighting his way through the dense cloud of Shadow Heartless to get inside the castle, his weapon of choice was a long sword covered in spikes and looked like a large key.

_Man, these Heartless are starting to get on my nerves!_ He thought as he hacked through the last one. He kept running towards the castle entrance. He got on the elevator and went to the second floor. Then he crossed over into the next room, the Hall of Empty Melodies. Inside the hall there was a chasm that went all the way down to the castle power core, the man looked over the edge into the chasm and found a secret passageway. He jumped down onto the ledge and walked down the corridor, _my guess is that Sora and his friends did not know about this passage, _he thought,_ good, that means I can find out what Vexen was doing._ He walked into an eight-sided room, on one of the walls was a workbench and bookcase, and on the seven remaining walls were large containment pods.

Each pod was labeled with a name, _Pride… Lust… Greed… Gluttony… Wrath… Sloth… Envy, who are they?_ He thought. He reached up and pulled his coat hood off, shaking his head to let his hair down. He looked no older than nineteen, his hair was long and spiky and colored black. His eyes were an intense yellow and seemed to have a flame burning inside of the pupils.

He then used his coat sleeve to wipe away the fog on the window of the container labeled Wrath. He peered inside and saw the most gruesome of masks covering the face of the person inside, the mask looked like it was completely patchwork and it had a grotesque smile. The eyes of the mask were visor pieces and had a sort of scar running down the middle.

_What is this thing? _He looked over at the desk, there was a computer running;_ maybe I can find some answers in that computer_. He looked at the program running, the name read: SIN PROJECT v.1.0. _What is this Sin Project?_ He thought. There were names next to the sins, Kodi/Wrath, Yoku/Greed, Kenshiki/Pride, Shikiyoku/Lust, Bushou/Sloth, Kentan/Gluttony, and Senbou/Envy._ What were you doing here, Vexen?_ He tapped a few keys and a symbol appeared on the screen. The symbol was the adopted sign of Organization XIII, an upside down spiked heart. A small window popped up, "PASSWORD REQUIRED TO PROCEED." the computer said.

_Great, what could the password possibly be! _After guessing numerous times he got so frustrated, he almost pulled out his weapon and smashed the computer to tiny bits. He noticed a journal in the bookcase; he got it out and opened it up to the first page.

It read: Despair, Erosion, Continue, Existence, Permanent, Termination, Ignorance, Organization, Nothing, XIII. _What does this mean? _He wondered, after a moment of examining the words he had a sudden realization. _Wait a minute! The capitol letters must mean something, D… E… C… E… P… T… I… O… N… XIII. Deception XIII! That's the password!_ He typed in the phrase and in a few seconds a new page opened up. It was a record of the project; it talked about a process seven specific people had undergone during the experimentation of Vexen. It seemed Vexen had managed to create a new kind of Heartless and Nobody, they were half the original human and half Nobody or Heartless.

One he dubbed as a Half-breed Heartless and the other was called a Naughtriface. The seven Naughtrifi Vexen created didn't fade back into Darkness unless the 'Keyblade' beat them in battle; they also retained their memories, which Vexen sealed in canisters somewhere safe. However, they experienced a peculiar defect; when they were created both had either hand encased in darkness whereas the other hand was perfectly normal.

Vexen chose these seven people because they could wield 'Keyblades'; he had expected to use them to capture Sora. "Ha! I guess Vexen never got to try this idea." he remarked very snidely in a deep, raspy voice.

He walked over to the container labeled Wrath; looking at the side of the container, he found a control panel. Scanning the controls he found a button labeled 'AWAKEN', he pushed it. Instantly the hatch made a loud clunk sound and hissed open. After several seconds the being inside sprang to life and jumped at the man, who pulled out his weapon. The scene slows down and fades into darkness.

Sora woke up with a start; it was midnight on Destiny Islands. He looked around his room; it was full of various nick-knacks from his childhood. A soft warm wind was blowing through his open window, outside was a view of the island he had spent so many summers exploring and spending time with his best friends. "Was that just a dream?" he said, "No, it just seemed too real. Who was that guy?" He saw someone out on the water, heading towards the island. He jumped out of his bed and ran out of his room. When he was outside, he used a pair of binoculars to see who it was. The person in the boat was wearing a black cloak; Sora was instantly worried about the door on the island.

He got into his own boat and shoved off the shore, rowing at top speed he hastened to catch the other boat. He was only a few feet away when suddenly his boat got a huge hole blown into it. The boat took on too much water to scoop it out, so Sora jumped into the water and swam after the other boat. When he got to it the boat was already on shore, he hustled out of the water and stopped instantly when he almost ran into the stranger. The cloaked figure was just standing there, his back turned to Sora.

"Who are you and why are you on my island?" he shouted at the person, pulling out his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. The man reached up and pulled his hood down, he had short straight white hair. He turned around so Sora could see his face; a mask that resembled hot, molten rock half covered it. He had a bored, unenthused look on his face. "Answer me! Who are you?" Sora yelled again, the man sighed heavily and opened his mouth to speak but instead closed it and jumped forward pulling out a Keyblade and clashing with Sora's. The man's Keyblade had a long menacing blade; the handle looked normal except it had another handle on the side. He still had that bored look on his face; Sora was angry at this and shoved him back. The man lost his balance and Sora, using this to his advantage, unclipped his Kingdom key chain and pulled out the Ultima key chain. The moment he clipped it on the Keyblade was enveloped in a radiant light. When the light faded away, the Keyblade took on a new appearance.

It looked much more elegant in this form, the handle guards were angle wings and the blade looked like feathers. Sora ran towards the man, his weapon at his side ready to slash through the intruder. Just as Sora was about to attack him, the man was absorbed into a portal of Darkness. Sora looked around and saw the man reappear in front of the entrance to the secret spot. The man was about to go inside, a flash of him and Kiari writing on the walls went through Sora's mind, _No! I can't let him go in there!_ Sora thought and he ran after him. Sora jumped up high in the air and threw his Keyblade at the man, but to no avail. The man saw it coming; he switched his Keyblade to the side handle and, using it as a shield, knocked away the spinning weapon. Sora's Keyblade went flying into a tree and there it stayed.

Sora stared at it in surprised then looked at the man angrily, "Answer my question, who are you?" Sora asked. "I am not called by a single name," the man said in a droning, less than enthusiastic voice, "I am called Sloth at some times and Golem at others. However, my name is Bushou." Sora reached out to his Keyblade, it vanished and reappeared in his hand. "What, how did you do that?" Bushou shouted in shock at what he just saw, this was the first time he actually showed any vigor. "The Keyblade returns to the owner if called upon," explained Sora, "it goes back to the one that has the stronger heart."

"I see, so it goes to the one with the stronger heart." Bushou said, he raised his left hand and thrust it open. The air started to swirl and vapors of darkness flowed around him and Sora. Sora suddenly raised the hand holding the Keyblade, and then the Keyblade vanished. It reappeared in Bushou's hand; Sora gaped at the sight in shock. "It appears that my heart is stronger." Bushou said, swinging the Keyblade victoriously. "How did you-" Sora started to say when suddenly a portal of darkness opened up and another man in a black cloak came through.

"That is enough, Sloth!" the new comer said in an aggressive growling voice. "Oh! Uh, hey, Pride. What brings you here?" Bushou asked sheepishly. "You deliberately disobeyed me, Sloth. I specifically told you not to come here without telling me first." Pride shouted angrily at Bushou. "I'm going; jeez you need to lighten up a little." Bushou said as he faded into a portal of darkness, Pride turned over to Sora, "Your Keyblade will return to you very shortly, I hope he didn't cause too much trouble" Pride apologized. "Wait! Who are you people, and why are you doing this?" Sora demanded, "That is none of your concern at the moment. Just go about your business as usual." Pride told him, he faded into another portal and was gone.

Sora stood there for several minutes, and then he turned back to the docks where Bushou's boat was tied down. He thought about what had just happened and about the dream he had before. _Were they somehow connected?_ He wondered as he rowed back to the mainland.

Later that same day Sora met up with Riku and Kiari and told them about the strange men and the dream. "And you have no idea what they wanted with the door in the secret place?" Kiari asked Sora, "No, but I think the dream I had is somehow connected to this whole thing, and if I'm right that means there are five more of these people out there." Sora explained. "What about this Pride person? If he's just like Bushou, then he can wield a Keyblade as well." Riku said, "And, according to your dream Pride's real name is Kenshiki. Did you see his face?"

"No, I didn't see anything." Sora answered, "Bushou seemed like he was afraid of him, I guess. He didn't seem like he was interested in fighting me at all, but when push came to shove he surprised me with his fighting abilities." Sora sat there thinking about what happened. "Another odd thing that I noticed, Bushou was able to take my Keyblade from me. How did he do that?" he asked the others. "Well, it happened to you once before, remember back in Hollow Bastion?" Riku mentioned, "His heart was stronger than yours for at least a second." Sora considered this for a moment then he remembered what the young man in his dream found out, "But if my dream is related to this, then that couldn't have worked; he was a Naughtriface, half Nobody, and that means he only has half a heart."

"Good point, no matter how hard someone tries, you just can't overpower a whole heart with half of one." Riku replied. "Something else happened to," Sora said, "I'm sure you guys noticed that I'm using a different boat today. Well when I was out on the water trying to catch Bushou, something blew a hole in my boat."

"Do you think it was a Heartless or a Nobody?" Kiari asked. "I'm not sure; I never saw what had caused it. But I don't think it was a Heartless, they don't normally team up with Nobodies." Sora said, "Also, the Keyblade didn't react to anything."

"Then what attacked you?" Kiari asked, "I'm not sure, but whatever it was it must have been helping Bushou." Sora replied. The conversation continued until noon, Sora, Riku, and Kiari went over to the tree that Bushou knocked Sora's Keyblade into. They examined the hole in the tree, "Wow." Kiari said, "How did he do this?" Sora just stood there with his eyes closed, remembering how it happened. "He seemed to do it so effortlessly. His Keyblade was odd, the handle had another handle sticking out." he explained. "And he didn't seem to show very much effort at all when he did this?" Riku asked, "No, he just swung his Keyblade lightly and sent mine flying into the tree." he said.

They continued investigating the battle area; they noticed that a few trees had the leaves sliced off. The trees were quite a distance from the battle area. They were walking towards the secret place to see if anything happened to the door, suddenly Sora slipped on something. "Ouch! What the heck is a piece of ice doing on the island?" he exclaimed. "Sora, I don't think this is ice…" Riku said, Sora sat up and looked at what Riku was pointing at. It was a long sheet of glass, it started from were Bushou was standing and ended with a spread out fan right were they clashed. "What the heck? How did this happen?" he said gaping, "Sora there is a reason that I'm worried, do you know how glass is formed?" Riku asked, "Glass forms when sand is melted down with extreme heat. Whatever happened, I think Bushou generated a large amount of heat when he dashed at you."

"Well I noticed he was fast, but I didn't think much of it." Sora told Riku. Sora and his friends walked over to the docks, but Riku stopped behind them and looked back at the huge tree hiding the secret place. All of the sudden he seemed to realize something; he turned back to Sora and Kiari. "Sora, let's talk more about your dream. About that guy who found the lab, you said that his hair was black and his eyes were fiery, right?"

"Yeah, in fact he kind of looked familiar. Weird, isn't it?" Sora replied, "Sora, think. Who do we know that has **or** had straight, black hair and fiery eyes?" Sora looked at him with a confused expression, then he looked both surprised and shocked, "Darkside!" he exclaimed. "Not quite, you destroyed King Darkside, remember?" Riku said, "Think about your dream, we found out that there is a different kind of Heartless and Nobody. And where there is a Heartless there is a Nobody, get it?"

Sora realized what Riku was saying, "Aros' Naughtriface." he said, "Bingo. That guy in your dream was the Naughtriface of Aros, your Opposite." Riku said. They continued discussing the matter until nightfall, and then went home for the night. Sora was left to contemplate his questions on his own for the night, when he got to his house it was pitch black. He opened the front door to his house and went inside, the room was unlit. Sora looked around and saw a pair of yellow, shiny eyes.

Sora immediately thought it was a Heartless and pulled out his Keyblade. Turning on the light he almost jumped and struck the shape in the dark, but once the light brightened the room Sora found that it was just a dog. The dog had a yellow coat and small, long, black ears. Sora recognized the dog right away; "Pluto!" as he said this, Pluto leapt up and tackled, greeting him with a series of wet licks on the face. "Hey, boy, how have you been? Is the king with you?" the dog perked up an ear and stared at him excitedly with his tongue hanging out. "I guess not, but how did you get here then?" he said patting the dog on the head. Then he noticed something tied onto Pluto's collar, Sora leaned over and pulled it off. It was a piece of parchment and it the kings seal, a large circle with two smaller circles on either side of the top.

Sora opened the letter excitedly, it read:

Dear Sora, Riku and Kiari, it has come to my attention that there has been a major energy flux in the World that Never Was. I need to take care of something at the moment and I was wondering if you could check it out for me. If you could do that, you would have my gratitude, pal. Pluto has an energy tracker on his collar so I hope you can find it without any problems. Thanks and see you later, King Mickey. P.S. watch out for the Heartless, they have taken over the castle. Thanks again.

Sora checked Pluto's collar and found the energy scanner, a little blue box with a grid screen. "So the King wants me to go to the World That Never Was and check it out, huh?" he asked Pluto, the dog perked its ears up again and barked at him excitedly. "Okay, okay, I'll tell Riku and Kiari tomorrow, first thing." Sora said as he walked up to his room. He flung himself onto the bed and fell asleep.

My means of transportation to leave my world is a ship made of a strange material called gummi blocks. As my voyage for answers was about to begin I received a book from a good friend. The book explained every aspect of the seven deadly sins, their opposites, meaning, representations, etc. I will also be keeping a captains' log as I travel between the worlds.

Captains Log day 1

I discovered a heavily damaged ship today, all but one of the crew were gone. The one survivor was unconscious for about three days before I found him, but within the hour, he awoke. He told me his name was Fuzen, an odd name indeed but I felt it best to not dwell on it. Perhaps this man can help me with my research; I will let fate decide.

Hijus Report 2

The creature flung its arms at the young man, who dodged each blow by either stepping away or using his Keyblade to block the attacks. As the creature's claws hit the weapon it sent a shower of sparks flying, they spent several minutes fighting like this. The man led the beast around the room and managed to get the creature to jump back into the pod. Quickly the man pressed the 'SLEEP' button, the hatch closed almost instantly and the monster was covered in a cold gas. The man looked inside the pod to see the creature motionless once again; _I had to open the one labeled Wrath. _He thought. He left the pod to read more about these things, when he got back over to the desk he noticed something odd. "Why would there be a single bookcase in here, in fact why have any books in here at all?" he said in confusion.

He walked over to the computer and read the project journal again, "Vexen put the memories someplace safe, huh?" he started pulling out the books to see if they revealed the location of the memories. He tugged on a book in the far left center of the bookcase, suddenly there was a loud hiss and the bookcase lifted and slid into the wall, revealing another shelf. On the shelf were seven glowing canisters, like the pods they were labeled with a corresponding name. Everything faded into darkness as the man reached for one of the containers.

Sora woke up with a start; it was only five in the morning. "I've got to figure out what these dreams are about so I can stop waking up so early." He said with a yawn. He got out of bed and went outside to watch the sunrise. When he got outside he saw something he didn't think was there last night, a gummi ship, resting on the sand right in front of his house. "Well, that explains how Pluto got here, I guess." he said.

When it was brighter out Sora went to tell his friends about the mission, Riku and Kiari where happy to help and were ready to help right away. They met at Sora's house after gathering some rations, essentials and saying their good-byes. After they were aboard, they heard beeping coming from the com. center, there was a message waiting for them. "Is it from the king?" Riku asked as they started to run the message. 'PLAYING DISTRESS MESSAGE' the computer voice announced. The voice of a young man came onto the speaker, 'Hello is there anyone out there! Oh, I have made a grave mista-…crackle…I never should have done something so stupid.' there are explosions in the background, 'I haven't got much time to expl-…crackle…everything so if anyone is getting this, please, don't let Fuzen defeat the one called Sora. He is very impor-…crackle…. What! No stay away! Ahh! ……' A new voice came onto the speaker, 'Sorry, Dr. Hijus, but you have outlived your usefulness.' The new voice was deep, and raspy, 'And as for those of you who have received this message, do not interfere with my affairs and you will be spared.'

'END OF MESSAGE' the computer chimed. Sora, Riku, Kiari and Pluto looked at each other in shock. "What was that about?" Riku asked, "I'm not sure," Sora said, "but who do you think that Hijus guy was?" Riku just shrugged in response. "Kiari, maybe Hijus is from Radiant Garden, does he sound familiar?" Sora asked. "No, or at least, I don't think so. You have to remember, Sora, I don't have very much of my memories anymore." She replied. They stood there for a while in an awkward silence for several minutes. "Sora, did that other voice sound familiar to you?" Riku seemed to be onto something, "Yes it sounded kind of similar to the guy from my dream." Sora answered, "Do you think that he is this Fuzen guy?"

"If he is, then we have our work cut out for us. He can wield a Keyblade and apparently he's the guy that let those Naughtriface things loose, according to your dreams, anyway." Riku went over to the on-board computer and searched for the location of the messages origins, "The message came from an area in space near the World That Never Was, do you guys think we should still go and investigate?"

"Of course, we have to! We accepted the king's request and that Hijus guy needs our help." Sora answered quickly, "If Fuzen is the guy from my dream then we have to find and stop him."

And so it was settled, they set the ship for the course to the World That Never Was and they were off. Soon they arrived on the outskirts of the world, a dark looking planet encrusted with city buildings and a huge, white castle floating above it all. Drifting in front of them was a little Gummi ship; it appeared to be quite damaged.

Riku whistled in astonishment, there were electrical sparks shooting from the hull. Sora brought the Gummi ship up alongside it and they boarded the broken vessel. The inside was scorched beyond recognition and there were large chunks were blown out of the corridors. Sora gave the others a concerned look and they all pulled out their Keyblades, fearing the worst. The group turned a corner and sitting against a wall was a man wearing a white lab coat, his head was down and his eyes were closed.

"Hey, are you alright!" Sora shouted, he ran towards the man and knelt down beside him. Slowly the man opened his eyes and looked up at Sora and the others, "Who are you?" he asked in a low tired voice, clearly in pain. "I'm Sora that's Riku and she's Kiari." Sora replied, Pluto let out a bark to remind Sora of his presence, "Oh, and this is Pluto."

"You're Sora? What are you doing here you shouldn't have come. Fuzen will destroy you if you linger. Ungh!" the man was in a great deal of pain; he doubled over, clutching his bloody side. "You're in no condition to be worrying about anyone but yourself right now." Sora said, concerned. "Would you by any chance be Hijus?"

"Yes, I'm Hijus, and you're in grave danger, Sora. I never should have rescued him from that wreckage." Hijus saw just how much Sora and his friends didn't know, "I can see that you all need an explanation, but I'm afraid I can only do as much as give you my reports." He gave Sora five pages, "I compiled this report on my discoveries about Nobodies, and maybe it will help you understand how I came to be here. But please, Sora, leave immediately."

"No way, I'm not going anywhere, you need help. Besides, we're here on a mission to investigate the castle. So we have to stay." Sora said, defiantly. "Don't be a fool, you can't beat Fuzen, he is simply too powerful. If you leave now you won't have to fight me when I change." Hijus retorted, "I will become a Heartless soon, and then I won't have a will of my own. So, please, just go."

Sora couldn't deny that Hijus was right, "But, what about you?" he asked, "Don't worry, just leave" Hijus commanded. Sora motioned for his friends to follow him as he bitterly left Hijus to resume his fate.

Later on there Gummi ship, Sora and his friends read the reports in sulking silence.

Captains Log day 3

I have told Fuzen about my plans and he has decided to aid me in my quest. In fact, he has encountered these creatures called Nobodies before. According to Fuzen, Nobodies represent the memories of a person, whereas Heartless have to do with what a persons' heart is like inside.

Nobodies have memories of emotions and so they mimic those emotions according to those memories, but being without hearts they cannot feel such emotions. I am surprised by how much Fuzen knows about the creatures, perhaps I can delve further into his mind and find out how they function. I will continue some other time; my endless questions seem to cause him pain.

Hijus Report 3

Captains Log day 5

I have questioned Fuzen to no end and today I have asked him about the missing crew from his ship, but as far as he knows, there was no crew. He says he was en-route to his home world when suddenly hundreds of Heartless ships fired on him, heavily damaging his ship, after that everything went blank. Two things surprise me: one, that he was able to control such a large ship by himself and two, the ship didn't explode.

Fuzen is a very odd man; there are just so many holes in his story. He does not act as most people do; his emotions do not seem normal. When he changes emotions, it is almost as if he thinks that is how he is supposed to act, but he is unfeeling at other times. I must look into this matter further, a sort of investigation inside an investigation if you will.

Hijus Report 4

It has been far too long since my last entree and I have so much to write. 

We have landed on a world, Fuzen said it was called Traverse Town, and it looks as though it has seen better times. There is ruble and destroyed buildings all over the town, it seems like a large battle was recently fought here. The townspeople have all vanished and there is a large Heartless hulking around a destroyed fountain, one can only guess what happened here and why the Heartless is so interested in that fountain. I can only describe the Heartless as armor plated monster with what looks like a keyhole on its chest.

Fuzen and I have been studying the Nobodies in the area, even though they are few in number. It seems that when they are provoked with data streams they become, in scientific terms, completely insane. In that state, we also found that they would attack pretty much anything around them, including each other. They even tried to attack that large Heartless at the fountain, but, of course, they failed miserably and were destroyed. It seems that when Nobodies are put together with Heartless they will attack and destroy each other to no end.

Fuzen told me something very interesting earlier; it was about another type of Heartless and Nobody. He said they were quite rare to come across and they were not mindless like the normal ones, he called them Half Breed Heartless and Naughtriface. A Half Breed Heartless is, as their name suggests, half-Heartless and half human. A Naughtriface is half Nobody and half human. I asked him how these beings are created and he told me they are formed under special conditions, naturally, a Naughtriface appears after a Half-Breed Heartless is created. A Half-Breed Heartless is made when someone interferes with the natural occurrence of a Heartless' creation, for example, when Xehanort created artificial Heartless he himself was turned into a Half-Breed Heartless and in turn created his Naughtriface, Xemnas. According to Fuzen, you can tell the difference between a normal Nobody and a Naughtriface because a Naughtriface is more human looking and has one hand incased in Darkness, and the other hand is normal. For now, I will call this odd occurrence Twilight Stigma.

It has just occurred to me that Fuzen always wears a pair of old leather gloves, in fact I have never seen him without them. I'm not sure, I may just be getting paranoid or I might just be looking for more excitement. Well, what ever it is I should stop targeting Fuzen for such things as these.

Hijus Report 5

They went down to the world, landing right outside the pathway to Twilight Town and started heading towards the city. When they arrived at Memories Skyscraper Sora stopped and gazed at it, this was the place he had fought Xemnas. Suddenly the group was surrounded by hundreds of Neo Shadow Heartless; every one of them was itching to attack them. Sora, Riku and Kiari called upon their Keyblades and jumped into the horde, the battle didn't last long, within minutes the Keyblade bearers had dispatched every one of the creatures.

They came to the castle, walked through the corridors and climbed the stairs, all the while watching the energy reader with intent. And they finally ended up in the Hall of Empty Melodies, with the energy signature directly below them. "Well, I guess this is where we start digging" Riku joked. Sora heard footsteps coming from the hallway in front of them.

A man came through the doorway; he was wearing a shirt completely made of patchwork and a pair of pants that had the leggings shredded at the ends. His boots were a dark brown and had buckles. He had half a mask covering his face, it was designed to look like patchwork and had an evil smile; the half of the man's face they could see had two, deep scars running down his face, his eye was an intense black with a red pupil. He wore a pair of gloves that had no fingertips; Sora could see that one of his hands was in darkness.

"Who are you?" Sora asked the man, the man looked at him with little interest as if considering to answer him, "My name is Kodi, but you can call me Scarecrow." he answered with a low monotone voice, his voice didn't fit his appearance at all; Kodi had little expression on his half face. "Okay, Scarecrow, are you one of **them**?" Sora continued, "If by 'one of **them**' you mean one of the Naughtrifi from the Sin Project, then yes." he sneered, "And I think it would best if you didn't aggravate me, if you know what's good for you."

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Sora asked, Kodi called his Keyblade, the Wrath Sin, and took his battle stance. Riku and Kiari retaliated by taking out their own Keyblades and started to run to Sora's side, only to be forced back by a barrier. "Don't you dare interfere; this is between me and the Keyblades' Chosen One." Kodi snarled in a more angry voice that suited him perfectly.

Sora turned his attention from his friends to Kodi, ready to fight to the bitter end. Another Naughtriface appeared at the other end of the platform, it was Pride, "Wrath, must you be so hot-headed?" he said, "Why are you so impatient? This is not according to the plan."

"Forget the plan!" Kodi roared, leaping at Sora, attempting to slice him in half. Sora quickly blocked it, only to be surprised by Kodi's next strike, Kodi used the momentum of the block to spin around and knock Sora's Keyblade right out of his hands. Sora watched helplessly as his Keyblade skidded away from his reach, Kodi put the point of his Keyblade to Sora's throat to keep him from making any sudden moves. "Sora!" Riku and Kiari yelled from the sidelines, unable to do anything to help.

"What will you do?" Kodi taunted, "You have no weapon, nobody to help you and now, you're up against a rock and a hard place."

Sora could tell that Kodi was feeling smug and he wished he had someone to come to his aid. There was a slight flash of light and from out of nowhere; another person was in the battle. "Nobody is right," the boy said. He was about nineteen years, had blond hair and just as big, blue eyes as Sora's. In each of his hands was a Keyblade, the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper. Sora was just as surprised as Kodi was, was it really who he thought it was?

"Who are you?" Kodi growled, the boy just smirked and brandished one of his Keyblades at him. "I won't let you harm Sora. And if you really want to be that formal, the name's Roxas." he replied, charging at Kodi and attacking him mercilessly. Roxas knocked Kodi into the air, only to whack him back down onto the ground.

Roxas landed right next to Sora and gave him a triumphant grin, "I don't understand, how did you get here?" Sora was thoroughly confused, Roxas just laughed at him. "Heh, I am always around when you need help; and by the looks of it you really needed it." Roxas gestured to the sulking heap that was Kodi.

"So, you can help me in this battle?" Sora asked, Kodi was starting to get back up; there were chips in his mask from the fight. "No, you'll have to either step down or resume on your own." Roxas replied, Kodi was ready to fight again; his expression was that of true, undying rage. "Okay, I'm ready to fight him." Sora said, strongly. He stood up and retrieved his Keyblade, sending Roxas back to his heart. He then changed his Keyblade to the Fenrir Keyblade and, with the Ultima chain ready, he surrounded himself in a ball of light.

When he stepped out of the orb, he was clothed in black and silver, he hovered above the ground, the Fenrir and Ultima Weapon Keyblades floated in an X-formation behind him. "What in the-" Kodi was cut short, within a second he was being struck by a flurry of attacks. He couldn't understand it, how could Sora's weapons strike him when he didn't even have a hold of his weapons? The Keyblades swung up and down then they pulled in towards Sora, just to lash out towards Kodi in a spinning attack, next they split apart and came crashing into Kodi's body with their points.

Kodi slumped down to the ground, unable to fight any longer; his mask was chipping into pieces. "Finish it Keyblade Bearer!" Pride yelled, Sora just stood there looking at Kodi and shook his head. "No, I want answers, now." Sora answered as he reverted into his normal form, he slung his Keyblade over his shoulder. "I will tell you anything I feel you need to know, but as you can see you have a fight to end." Pride gestured to Kodi who was slowly evaporating. "We Naughtrifi don't wear the masks for looks, if we lose a fight our mask shatters and we fade into darkness. These masks are basically our lifeline; it breaks, we perish." Pride explained.

Kodi's mask shattered and he faded into darkness forever; Sora looked at the empty space in disbelief, the barrier keeping Riku and Kiari back vanished as well. Riku and Kiari ran to Sora's side, Keyblades at the ready. "You are already fulfilling your destiny, Keyblade Bearer." Pride declared, "As they say, one down, six to go." Pride disappeared into darkness, sending a pompous solute to the young heroes.

Sora stood looking down at the spot Kodi had been kneeling; there was a glint of light, he walked toward it and the glint took on shape. It was a piece of Kodi's mask, the eyepiece. Sora picked it up and looked at it, there was a slight radiance around it. A flash blinded Sora and he witnessed all of Kodi's memories, first he saw Kodi's mother, a beautiful woman with a warm smile. After that Sora saw Kodi's father being beaten by Heartless, when the final blow was struck Kodi obtained a Keyblade and he destroyed all of the Heartless, crying all the way. Then the memories leapt to Kodi standing in the middle of a Heartless swarm, with a look of utter rage on his scarred face. The memories leapt forward to the point in which his Half-breed Heartless and Naughtriface were created, his Half-breed was promptly destroyed and his Naughtriface was sealed into a pod and his memory removed.

Sora's senses returned to him right after that and he was back in the Hall of Empty Melodies, he looked around in confusion. "Sora are you okay, did something happen?" Kiari asked in concern, Sora nodded "Yeah, I think so. That was weird, I was standing right here and then I was in a different place and time." He explained. "But Sora, you never left, you were just standing there with a dazed look on your face. We tried to get your attention, but you just acted like we weren't here." Riku said.

About an hour later, they were back on the Gummi ship and headed home, Sora was sitting in the captain's chair examining the piece of Kodi's mask. "Why are you so interested in that thing?" Kiari asked him, "I don't know. It just feels like I'm supposed to hold onto it." Sora said, he put it in his pocket and watched as they flew by other worlds. Suddenly there was an alert on the monitor, WARNING, WARNING. THERE HAS BEEN A DISTURBANCE AT BEAST'S CASTLE. A DISTRESS SIGNAL HAS BEEN RECEIVED, BELLE IS REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. The computer reported, Riku and Kiari looked at Sora. He nodded, and the ship turned to Beast's Castle.

"Are you certain the boy is up to the task?" a man asked Pride, they were in a dark room surrounded by yellow glowing eyes. "The boy believes strongly in destiny, he is the one who will rid the worlds of Heartless and Nobodies alike." Pride responded with vigor, "I only hope you are right, if he doesn't figure it out, then we are doomed." the man said, "What will happen if he doesn't defeat Fuzen?"

"If he can discover the secret behind the keychains, Sora can defeat him." Pride said, they stood looking at a picture etched on the wall; it was shaped like a six-sided star with curved points and was divided into seven pieces, each marked with a symbol.

The castle was large and gloomy, it's stone walls were rough and foreboding. Up on top of the front wall there was a dark figure, he wore a black cloak and a mask that had a single horn sticking out to make it look like a bull. He stood there as if waiting for something, a gummi ship came across the horizon. The man called forth a Keyblade, it was large and had a circular, three-pronged handle. He pulled it back behind him and swung it strongly towards the ship without letting it go. A blast of air was hurtled toward the gummi ship, and when it hit the ship was damaged, parts were flying all over and it was starting to go down.

Sora, Riku and Kiari were tumbling around in the ship, they didn't know what happened but they were trying to reach the controls. Riku managed to reach them first and strapped himself, "I'm going to make an emergency landing over there in that clearing!" he shouted to the others, they had finally managed to find something to hold onto.

The ship rattled and reeled and crashed into the ground, skidding a few feet before coming to full and complete stop. Sora used his Keyblade to bash the door open and they crawled out of the wreckage, they were a little battered and bruised but all right. "What happened?" Sora asked, brushing himself off. "I don't know, but what ever it was it did a number on the ship. We'll be lucky to leave this place now." Riku responded, helping Kiari up. They looked around the ship to inspect the damage; there were no scorch marks or unnatural damage to the hull. It was as if a blade just sliced through the ship without even making contact. Riku looked in the direction of the castle, and the direction of the blast of air. There was a glimmer of torchlight's not to far off, just a few miles away from the castle.

"Maybe we can find some help in that village down there." Riku said, Sora nodded and they started down the hill. While they were walking through the forest they heard a yell for help, they looked in the direction of the cry and saw an old man slumped on the ground surrounded by wolves. Sora and Riku ran as fast as they could to the old man's aid, bashing wolves out of their path on the way. Kiari tried to help the man to his feet while her friends fended off the wolves, they were surrounded by the pack of beasts. Sora and Riku used their joint attack, Session, and it was over in a matter of seconds.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2 Prologue

Kingdom Hearts: Keeper of Sin

Kingdom Hearts: Keeper of Sin Chapter 2 Prologue

The setting was dark and gloomy, with overgrown plants all around. A portal of darkness opened up and Bushou stepped out, he was more than a little angry. One of his only chances to destroy the being threatening his life and Pride had to interfere! 

"RAAGH!" Bushou slashed a tree with his Keyblade, burning right through the trunk and toppling it over, "Damn you Pride! I don't care if that stupid child is meant to destroy us; I worked far too hard to get this kind of immortality to have it all taken away just because of Destiny!" 

"I wouldn't call this immortality…" a deep, raspy voice commented, echoing through the trees. "Who's there!?" Bushou looked around worriedly. A young man in a black cloak walked out from behind a tree. "I am one of you, or rather; I am one of your _kind_." 

He raised his hand and pulled down the hood, letting his black and red spiked hair hang loose. "It-it's you!" the man smiled sinisterly, "Fuzen!" 

"Yes, Sloth, it's me. I was here looking for a friend of my companion when I heard a tree fall near-by. From the sound of it you are rather angry that you didn't get to kill Sora." 

"Tch, it's not my fault, that bastard Pride got in the way. Sora would have been dead ages ago if it were up to me." Bushou retorted. 

"I see, so you are willing to go against the orders of your leader then?" 

"Pride can hardly be considered as my leader, I only went with this because I wanted to live forever. But now it turns out that Destiny has decided that Sora _must_ kill us to kill you and the Darkness that you hold." 

"Haha…" 

"Something you find funny?" 

"Heh, Sora can't kill me with out killing all seven of you first huh?" Fuzen looked at Bushou with a gaze that seemed to burn right through him, his fiery eyes shining with fierce delight. 

"Ye-yes, our Keyblades hold the power to destroy you, but not alone, he needs all seven." Bushou stammered; he didn't like where this conversation was heading. Fuzen raised his right hand, extending his fingers in a 'take my hand' manner, "if that is true, then perhaps we can make a deal." He said. 

Bushou looked at Fuzen's hand, confused, "What do you mean, what kind of a deal do you have in mind?" 

"I give you the chance to kill Sora without Pride interfering, and you promise me in return that you will remain loyal to me. This is good for both of us; you get to continue 'living' and I get rid of the only threat to my plans" 

"Hmmm, so you're proposing that I betray the other Sins and join your side?" 

"Exactly, I will even grant you some of my powers, as well as a new weapon, just for you" 

"A new weapon, I'll get to kill Sora, and live forever, huh? Sounds like fun," Bushou smiled, "Alright, I'll do it." 

"Excellent…" Fuzen walked up to Bushou, so they were now face-to-face. He took Bushou's left hand; the one encased in darkness, Bushou was hit with a wave of dark power. The energy was surging through Bushou's body; he had never felt such power! When the pulsating power died down Fuzen backed away, raised his right hand and a new Keyblade appeared. This Keyblade was different from others; the handle was over on one side, with a single guard, the blade started from the guard and was sharp, ending with the prongs; which were on the same side as the blade and had the form of a bat-like wing. The keychain was a black crown laid over a pointy, blocky silver heart. 

"This Keyblade I will name Turncoat, it now belongs to you as a symbol that you now serve me." Bushou took it from Fuzen, examining it more closely. 

"_This_ is the weapon? Very interesting, what powers does it hold?" 

"That is for you to discover, and don't worry about choosing which of your

Keyblades to use, when you made the deal I gave you the Synch Blade ability; so now you can use both." 

Bushou smirked, "Heh, thanks, I'll have fun reeking havoc with this. So, how soon do you want Sora dead?"

"Whenever you get around to it, no rush. At the moment he is of no concern, even more so now that I have one of you on my side" 

"Okay, I'll go have some fun first, I think I'll pay a visit to my old friend Kentan." 

And with that Bushou disappeared into a portal of Darkness, Fuzen was left alone in the dense jungle, a woman wearing a black cloak stepped out from the shadows. "Are you really going to keep your end of the deal?" she whispered. 

"Humph, that creature is good as dead after he kills Sora" Fuzen responded nastily, the woman bowed her head and turned away, Fuzen close behind.


End file.
